I believe the numbers of higher grade (E grade or better) guns produced was low, but not as low as the original poster claims. Of 3327 guns with full serial numbers we currently have on our list 43 are 20 gauge guns in grade E or higher (1.29%). 20 gauge guns are very rare before serial number 20,000 (and probably out of sequence). If we use 1.29% of 50,000 guns (serial numbers 20,000-70,000) that would equal 645 guns. There are a lot of assumptions built in such as the likelihood of a high grade sub-gauge gun surviving to be counted is probably higher than your average 12 Gauge DS which would make this an over estimate.

20 gauge
 

Sorry for the misinterpretation of the numbers, but thanks for the enlighten information.

Larry - beautiful gun! I have the absolute twin to this gun which may or not make a trip to the Vegas show. I can’t bring myself to offer it for sale, but I’ll have a few other Lefevers there for sure. I hope to see you there!

That 20g is a screamer!

I’m interested in what book you pulled your info from?

Thanks!

Reference
 

Mine came from the Elliott book, "Uncle Dan Lefever, Master Gunmaker".
I think when I calculated the number I factored it down to the E grades produced after considering all of the 20 gauges. But I don't recall specifically.